Douluo: Starting by Crafting a Gun Chapter 12

Just as Shen Feng was lost in thought, the sun had unknowingly climbed to its zenith, and a blinding glare suddenly erupted from behind Oscar, stabbing into his eyes.

"Good chance!"

Just as Shen Feng reached out to shield his eyes from the mysterious light, Oscar lunged at him like a fierce leopard, his feet kicking up sprays of water as he charged at high speed.

Shen Feng was slightly stunned: "Good lad, you've learned to play dirty."

At this moment, Shen Feng finally discovered the source of the mysterious light; it was a row of neatly arranged bullet casings.

The sun had reached a specific angle, shining onto the orange-yellow casings and reflecting the light directly into his eyes.

The location for this sparring match had been chosen by Oscar, who had stood in position since early morning waiting for Shen Feng to arrive.

After Shen Feng arrived, he had no choice but to stand opposite him, and as for that row of bullets, Shen Feng had assumed he intended to practice his marksmanship after the spar, so he hadn't paid them any mind.

He truly hadn't expected that the honest and reliable Oscar would actually learn to use tricks.

"Xiao Feng, this is called 'all is fair in war'!"

As the words fell, Oscar, who had already reached Shen Feng, suddenly thrust out his right hand, his four fingers stiff like a blade, viciously stabbing toward Shen Feng's abdomen.

The corners of Shen Feng's mouth curled up slightly. The power behind Oscar's strike was not insignificant, and his timing was excellent; even a two-ring Battle Soul Master might not be able to dodge it and would be forced to take it head-on.

But Shen Feng was different; almost everything Oscar possessed had been honed through training with him.

In other words, they were taught by the same master, so there was no way to break the technique.

Shen Feng suddenly pulled in his abdomen to create some distance, then thrust out both hands, slapping toward Oscar's head with the force of a thunderbolt.

Neither of them held back; their moves were fast and ruthless. If a strike landed solidly, it would definitely result in injuries that would leave one unable to crawl without a Healing-type Soul Master.

If an outsider were to see this scene, they would think the two held a deep-seated grudge against each other.

But sweat more in training, bleed less in battle; bleed more in training, and you won't lose your life when it counts.

Injuries during training could be healed at any time, but injuries during a real battle usually meant waiting for death.

And this fierce style of fighting was exactly what Oscar himself had proposed; he did not want to be a burden who could only stand behind his teammates, and he never had.

Hearing the wind of a palm strike approaching his ear, Oscar instinctively crouched down, his right leg tensing like a steel whip as he swept it toward Shen Feng's legs.

Slap—

A crisp sound of a palm strike rang out. Having missed his mark, Shen Feng felt a flash of lightning erupt beneath his feet, and he quickly leaped backward to dodge Oscar's whip kick.

Oscar's heart tightened, and he secretly cursed his bad luck.

He had only managed to gain a slight advantage through his little tricks; once Shen Feng opened up the distance and regained his footing, he would undoubtedly lose this match.

"Double Rasengan!"

Gritting his teeth, a buzzing sound suddenly erupted from Oscar's right hand as a high-speed rotating pink ball of soul power formed in his palm.

His left hand simultaneously erupted with a brilliant light, slamming heavily onto the surface of the water. The river surface caved in, and water splashed everywhere as Oscar used the massive recoil to lunge straight at Shen Feng.

A smile appeared on Shen Feng's face: "Well done!"

"Palm Thunder!"

An equally blinding purple-black light ignited in Shen Feng's palm, with electricity arcing in all directions, its momentum even more imposing.

"Xiao Feng, let's decide the winner."

"Double Rasengan!"

The next moment, Oscar suddenly increased his output of soul power, and the pink ball of soul power in his hand suddenly expanded dozens of times, turning into a massive sphere over a meter in diameter.

Threads of soul power wove across its surface like a rattan ball, crisscrossing and slicing through the surrounding air at high speed, emitting a faint buzzing sound.

"Haha, I have a new move too!"

"Chidori!"

Shen Feng pressed his five fingers together, and the crackling Palm Thunder in his hand suddenly contracted, clinging tightly to his hand to form a purple-black blade of lightning plasma about twenty centimeters long.

Sshhh—

Like a hot knife through butter, Shen Feng thrust his hand directly into the Double Rasengan released by Oscar.

The internal balance was shattered, and the Double Rasengan dissipated instantly. Shen Feng's five fingers, held together, then came to rest against Oscar's neck.

"Xiao Ao, you've lost 137 times."

Oscar sighed, his strength leaking away as his tense nerves finally relaxed.

"It's still not enough. I calculated every angle and used every trick, yet I still can't beat you."

"Is it true that a Support-type can only provide support from behind their teammates? Even with a Self-Created Soul Skill, can't I bridge the gap between a Support Soul Master and a Battle Soul Master?"

Shen Feng shook his head slightly: "Xiao Ao, it's not that it can't be bridged; it's that you're looking at it the wrong way."

"An ordinary Soul Grand Master only has two soul skills, and even if their physical fitness is slightly better than a Support-type, that advantage is limited."

"As for you, the power of your *Self-Created Soul Skill*s, the Double Rasengan and Collapse Fist, is not weaker than the soul skills of an average Soul Grand Master, and you also possess two support-type soul skills."

"You can fight and you can heal. If you were to battle other Soul Grand Masters, I believe you would definitely win, and your chances of victory would be very high."

A glimmer of light flashed in Oscar's eyes: "Really? You're not lying to me?"

Shen Feng smiled slightly and nodded gently, saying, "Of course I'm not lying to you."

"It just so happens that the academy is holding admissions again tomorrow. How about I let you practice your skills on any fourth-round candidates who show up?"

Oscar froze for a moment, curled his lip, and said, "Fourth-round candidates, my foot."

"I came to the academy when I awakened my martial soul at age six, and five years have passed since then. Aside from you, who was specially recruited, not a single person has even reached the third round, let alone the fourth."

"How hard is it to find a two-ring Soul Grand Master under thirteen? They also need the optimal soul ring configuration, reasonable soul skill setups, and outstanding combat ability or combat awareness."

"I'm speechless. With such absurd requirements, it would be a miracle if we recruited anyone at all."

Shen Feng looked up at the sky, the corners of his mouth curling upward: "Trust me, a candidate who meets the criteria will definitely arrive this year."

Early the next morning, Shen Feng and Oscar rose early, washed up, and headed to the cafeteria together.

There weren't many intact buildings at Shrek Academy, and since Shen Feng often needed to exchange notes with Oscar on martial arts and Self-Created Soul Skills, he had simply moved in to live with him.

Oscar's Self-Created Soul Skills, the Rasengan and Collapse Fist, along with Shen Feng's Palm Thunder and the Explosive Step he used to dodge Oscar's attacks yesterday, were all results of their work over the past three years.

Among them, Oscar's Rasengan was a secondary creation based on Shen Feng's Palm Thunder, while the Collapse Fist and Explosive Step were small explosive techniques created by utilizing high-level soul power control based on the principles of firearm discharge.

While they were called "small techniques," their power naturally varied in different hands.

For instance, in the hands of Shen Feng and Oscar, splitting mountains and shattering rocks was no difficult task.

All of this was thanks to their precise control over their own soul power, which allowed them to avoid damaging their own meridians while unleashing such bursts.

By doing so, they could treat their soul power like bullets, ejecting it from their body's acupoints to inflict massive damage on enemies at close range.

This type of skill was best paired with hand-to-hand combat and close-quarters martial arts.

Therefore, Oscar, whose martial soul lacked offensive capabilities, focused on the Cannon Fist, while Shen Feng, who possessed the Leiming Blade, focused on the Explosive Step.

"Xiao Feng, do you really think someone will be able to make it to the fourth round today?"

"With such absurd assessment requirements, I feel like it'll be the same as the past few years—a total waste of effort."

Oscar held a steamed bun in one hand and a large bowl in the other, taking a bite of the bun and a gulp of soup; strangely, it didn't affect his speech in the slightest.

Shen Feng stuffed half a bun into his mouth, chewed it haphazardly, swallowed, and reached out to grab another.

"Don't worry, there definitely will be. Don't the two of us perfectly meet those conditions?"

Oscar's gaze locked onto the last remaining bun on the table, and he struck like lightning: "That's different. We both have Innate Full Soul Power."

"Even so, I only broke through to level twenty at over nine years old by using the cultivation method you created."

"For others, reaching level twenty before thirteen is impossible without at least Innate level 5 soul power."

"Why would a little genius with Innate level 5 soul power come to study at a remote, impoverished village like ours?"

Shen Feng's eyes sharpened, and he reached out to block Oscar's hand: "We can talk, but I won't agree to you snatching the bun. The last one is definitely mine."

"But you're right, though the world is vast, there are always people who end up here for all sorts of strange reasons."

"Like you, and like me."

Oscar nodded, but his hands didn't stop, continuing to fight Shen Feng in that small space for the last bun—it was play, but also their daily cultivation.

Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, they were always striving.

"True, there are weirdos every year. Shrek Academy is full of weirdos, and the people who come here to enroll are even weirder."

"Ahem, ahem."

Suddenly, a series of coughs sounded from behind them.

Oscar turned his head stiffly to see Flender standing at the door with several other teachers from the academy.

"If you don't want to eat, then don't. Can't you two keep your mouths shut while eating? Don't you know how busy today is going to be?"

Taking advantage of Oscar's distraction, Shen Feng moved with lightning speed to snatch the last bun and stuff it into his mouth.

"Good morning, Principal. Xiao Ao and I have already finished eating, so we'll head off to prepare for the admissions."

With that, Shen Feng didn't bother listening to Flender's nagging; he grabbed Oscar and bolted out of the cafeteria.

Watching their retreating backs, Flender looked depressed: "Those two little brats, eating my food, learning my skills, living in my house, and they still talk behind my back?"

Zhao Wuji patted Flender on the shoulder: "Give it a rest, Boss Flender, don't embarrass yourself here."

"The food they eat is what they bring back themselves, and most of the skills they learn are Self-Created Soul Skills that Xiao Feng developed himself. They only live in one of your dilapidated wooden shacks, and they even gave you ideas to earn a mountain of Gold Soul Coins."

"Tell me, is there any teaching in this world that's more worry-free than this? And you're still not satisfied?"

Flender was speechless: "I... I just haven't found the joy of being a teacher. What could I possibly have done wrong?"

"If you want to blame someone, blame Xiao Feng for being too outstanding and depriving me of the only joy of teaching."

Zhao Wuji glanced at him: "You mean the joy of lecturing people."

Flender's expression shifted: "Zhao Wuji, I think your skin is itching again. Take my Eagle Claw Technique!"

"I'm not afraid of you! Take my Mad Bear Holding Up the Sky!"

The next moment, the other teachers, including Shen Rui and Ling Na, burst into laughter.

This kind of environment, free of schemes and full of ease and comfort, was the true reason why they had all come together.

Although it was a bit austere, the advantage was that there were no restrictions, and one was free and unfettered.

The sun was high, around eight or nine in the morning, and at the entrance to the village of Shrek Academy, tables, chairs, and benches for admissions had already been set up.

A total of seven sets of tables and chairs were lined up in a row, topped with nameplates for the various teachers of Shrek Academy, along with the categories of spirit masters they specialized in.

For instance, the nameplate for Flender was placed on the table right in the center.

It read: Name: Flender

Titles: Dean of Shrek Academy, Business Prodigy, Wisdom Representative, etc.

Specialties: Beast Spirit, Agility-Attack System, Business, Answering Questions and Resolving Doubts, Exemplary Teacher, etc.

Of course, only his was extremely complex; the others only had their names and the categories of spirit masters they specialized in.

Directly in front of the tables and chairs, in the most conspicuous position, a sign covered in writing had been temporarily erected.

At this moment, over a hundred early-arriving spirit masters were already gathered in front of the sign, examining the content word by word.

"Those over thirteen years of age or with a spirit power below level twenty-one will not be accepted."

"Those whose first two spirit rings are not century-level, or whose first two spirit skills are not reasonably matched, will not be accepted."

"The registration fee is ten Gold Soul Coins; once registered, it is non-refundable, but those who are not admitted may ask the admissions teacher one question regarding spirit master cultivation."

"Hiss~, for such a dilapidated academy, the admissions requirements are truly outrageous."

"Are they actually recruiting students, or are they just trying to swindle money? Should we go to Suotuo City and report them to the City Lord?"

"New here, aren't you?" Suddenly, a man in his thirties interjected: "Don't you know that this academy is personally endorsed by the Suotuo City Lord's Mansion and the Suotuo City Martial Soul Hall?"

"Besides, how many people who come here are actually aiming to enroll?"

Hearing this, the man looked around in confusion, only then realizing that there were hardly any twelve or thirteen-year-old children in the vicinity; most were middle-aged people over twenty.